


Kanji Practice

by indi_go



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, i love cheesy things way too much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3076004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indi_go/pseuds/indi_go
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagami doesn't know kanji. Kuroko ends up in charge of teaching him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kanji Practice

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for tumblr user churpchirp! I hope you like it.
> 
> There's a small bit of cultural reference and a fair bit of very sparse Japanese in here (I don't speak it, these are just words, if you find anything incorrect please put a comment and I'll fix it!). But for those of you who are like me and have to do research for these things, I've interspersed some footnotes. It's likely that you'll understand at least a few of these footnotes. Feel free to skip the footnotes if you understand what something is!
> 
> A big thanks to corelton and makichan for beta-ing this. Heart eyes at both of you. <3_<3

Kagami flopped onto the floor and heaved an exasperated sigh. "Why do I need to learn kanji? I speak Japanese. I can read kana. Kanji is an old system for old people."

Kuroko jabbed him in the side, and he flinched. He propped up on his elbows and scowled at Kuroko, whose expression did not change. "You need to pass your exams, Kagami. You can't play basketball with me or the team if you don't."

Kuroko restacked the papers he'd collected for kanji practice, as if their orientation would make his boyfriend more willing to do the work. "Kagami. One more won't kill you."

\-------

The whistle echoed off the walls of Seirin High School Gymnasium #1. All eighteen members of the basketball team gathered around their coach.

"Everyone here knows the Inter High qualifiers are around the corner. Four teams, three advance to the knockout stages. But as some of you remember --" she momentary fixed her gaze on Kagami, who met her stare sheepishly, "-- we have exams upcoming soon. And if you don't finish in the top two-thirds of the class, then you have to do a mandatory, extra study session at the school the following weekend.

"Now, you first-years might think ‘that's not so bad!'" She whipped around to face them. "But that Saturday is the first match of the round robin. And if you think that Seirin can show its full power without the seven of you, you'd be wrong. So after you finish your cool-down, come bring your exam scores, and we can assign some of the upperclassmen to you to help with tutoring.

"Now go do your cool-down stretches! You need to make sure you stay fit and don't hurt yourselves!" The players wandered off to various corners of the gymnasium, but before any of them could get too far: "Kagami! Kuroko!"

They stopped on a dime and turned to face her as she approached. "Kagami-kun." She looked up. "Remember? We were keeping an eye on your grades?" Kagami gulped and nodded. "And you're doing better than you were last year! You're passing all your classes!" She beamed momentarily, then her eyebrows narrowed and she took on a dour expression. "...except for Japanese."

Kagami shrunk a bit, and glanced away to avoid eye contact with Riko. "I... don't know how to read or write kanji. I can read kana; for Japanese class I find English translations of the works we're reading. Then I write my essays in kana and take a low grade for not writing in kanji." He cracked a guilty smile and looked back at Riko.

She punched him in the stomach and he wheezed. "You _know_ you need to get good grades. And you _know_ we've offered to help you with your studying! Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I figured I'd get through it okay..." She punched him again.

"Kuroko?" His features sharpened and he looked at Riko. She aligned her shoulders to face him. "Could you teach him some kanji? Once or twice a week? You won't be able to get him caught up but anything you could do to help this _dumbass_ \--" she shot a glance at Kagami "-- pass his exams would be good."

Kuroko nodded. She turned back to Kagami. "You're lucky you're doing well enough in your other classes that you will probably pass." Riko gave him a solid jab in the side and walked away. Kagami fell into a heap on the ground.

"Kagami, you're really stupid, you know that?" He walked over to Kagami and hauled him back to his feet. "Let's go cool down." They wandered off to the nearest wall to finish up with practice.

\-------

Kuroko didn't mind teaching Kagami kanji. If nothing else, it gave him a valid excuse to spend more time with his boyfriend. (Of course, no one else on the team knew they were dating (yet), so he doubted Riko assigned him to tutor for that reason. But he'd take what he could get.)

Kuroko briefly passed through his parents' kitchen to say goodbye to his parents before walking to the vestibule to gather his things. He grabbed a windbreaker and plodded out the door, briefly sticking a hand behind him to prevent it from slamming.

It was late April. The mornings still held a clean crispness, the last vestiges of winter holding on. He'd not need the jacket in the early afternoon when he returned from Kagami's apartment.

It was a 20-minute metro ride and walk to Kagami's from his parents' house, and he arrived at about nine thirty. He doubted that the door was locked or that Kagami was awake, but he knocked anyway. Silence. He knocked, slightly louder this time. Nothing.

His first suspicion was confirmed with a twist of the handle and a slight push. He walked into the common area and hung a right down the hall and towards Kagami's bedroom. In the light filtering in through the blinds, he saw Kagami fast asleep.

He turned around, and padded back across the common area and into the kitchen. He bent down, and opened the freezer. He grabbed what he needed and headed back into Kagami's room.

"FUCKING HELL WHAT IS THAT!" Kagami woke up with a start, throwing off his blankets and chucking the offending ice cube across the room.

"Kagami, you said we'd meet at 9:30 to study kanji. It's 9:45." He stifled a chuckle at Kagami's Hulk underwear. "Get up, get in the shower. We -- you need to study."

Reluctantly, and with the threat of another ice cube (this time in a more uncomfortable place), Kagami was up and moving towards the shower.

\-------

"What kanji _do_ you know?"

"A few. A couple that I've seen around, and the few that I learned from my parents when I was living in America." He grabbed the pen and a sheet of the kanji practice paper.

The first thing he wrote was 火神 大我 [ _Kagami Taiga_ ]. "I've written this one a million times, obviously."

He moved onto the next line. His stroke order was completely wrong, but he scratched something that looked... roughly like 誠凛高校 [ _Seirin Kōkō_ 1].

"Anything else?"

"A few important odds and ends. Hospital. Pharmacy. Store. Numbers. I recognize a lot more than I can write. But since I never learned how to accurately write them, they don't stick in my head."

Kuroko nodded. "By this time next week, we should have the first grade of the Kyōiku2 kanji finished. You probably know many of these, but have never written them out. This will be one of the easier sessions we do. It'll also be the most important.

"That said, I'll start you off with colors. You'll remember them too, since all of the Generation of Miracles have colors in their surnames. You'll stay more focused." Kuroko flashed a knowing glance at Kagami. "Except _murasaki_ 3. It's not in the Kyōiku kanji set."

Kuroko scooted around the kotatsu, and weaseled his way in between Kagami's legs and arms. "It'll be easier for me to show you how to write the kanji from here." He smiled slyly up at Kagami.

"Let's start at the top." Kuroko wrote 赤 [ _aka_ 4] flawlessly. "This is the first kanji in Akashi's name -- aka." He then wrote stroke by stroke, showing Kagami how to write out the character. Kagami leaned over his boyfriend, and spent a couple of minutes copying the character until Kuroko was satisfied with the work.

They cycled through the rest of the promised kanji -- 青 [ _ao_ 5] (Kagami growled at this one), 黄 [ _ki_ 6], 黒 [ _kuro_ 7] (he smiled), 緑 [ _midori_ 8]. The last one was probably too hard, Kuroko thought. At least Kagami was more interested in learning.

They spent the rest of the day learning the remainder of the first year kanji, wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth, writing utensils, and gridded kanji paper. It took significantly longer than Kuroko had expected, and he didn't leave until 6 that night. He left Kagami's apartment with a kiss (and a blush), and trotted back home to his parents'.

\-------

"You're awake this time." Kagami rolled his eyes, but bent down and they shared a brief kiss before ambling over to the kotatsu and plopping down to study. Kuroko once again nestled inside of Kagami's arms.

He leaned back into Kagami's chest and directed his voice somewhere upwards. "Quiz time. You need to remember the kanji you've already learned. Can you write the kanji for _chikara _9?__

Kagami grabbed a pen and a gridded sheet and instead wrote: 黒子大好き [ _Kuroko daisuki_ ] -- "I love you, Kuroko". Kuroko could feel him smirking somewhere above him.

He turned bright red and attempted to hide it by placing his head on the desk of the kotatsu. "That's not right, Kagami."

"I don't know, Kuroko." Kagami beamed, proud of how clever he was. "It sure feels like it."

**Author's Note:**

> 1 high school  
> 2 lit. “education kanji” -- these are the 1,006 kanji that elementary school kids learn.  
> 3 purple, violet  
> 4 red  
> 5 blue  
> 6 yellow  
> 7 black  
> 8 green  
> 9 power
> 
> also, bonus deleted scene:
> 
> "The colors are good first kanji to learn. You'll remember them too, since most of my former teammates and I had color kanji contained in their surnames. Isn't that convenient?" Kuroko stared unblinkingly into the camera like a character from _The Office_.


End file.
